Toms' Travels

Saturday 26 January 2013

Tom and Pete around Perth

After two days on the proverbial road a real bed did me the world of good and I was feeling markedly fresher. When I emerged from my coma operation bacon sandwich on the beach was soon underway, I had thought about a decent bacon sandwich on many a day in India and using a BBQ on the beach sated my desires. After the grub we went for a wander down the beach on the blustery spring morning. 
After meandering down the seafront we moved our catch up on to a brewery on the sea front in a near by suburb. After a couple of brews and a bowl of chips we moved on. The next stop on the tour of Perth was the park, the largest inner city park in the world if I remember right. The park had some interesting art as well as some pretty awsome views of the CBD. We also saw some baub trees that had been brought down from the north but were apparently dying due to being unable to live in the cooler climes. I thought it was a shame as the trees were thousands of years old but on the whim for asthetics by a man they were dying. We moved on from the park and had a quick look around the CBD before going for a drink on the waterfront at a bar called the lucky shag. It turns out a pint in Australia these days costs close to £7-8 which was slightly sickening. After drinks we set our sigths on home via the shops to pick up steak and wine. My first day in Australia was exactly what I had been in need of. 
          The next day we set off on a trip south of Perth towards the Margaret river. Our first step was to get to Dunsbourgh a few hour drive from Perth stopping in Osterland to pick up some supplies for the trip. It felt good to be on the road in Australia once again and when we reached the pinacle at Dunsbourgh we stopped for lunch and you guessed it, BBQ hotdogs on the beach. The town was so quiet it was strange on the senses, refreshingly so. After chilling out on the beach for a while we decided to move on so we jumped back in the depex car and hit the road again. We ended up a bit further down the coast at a place called Yallingup after some stunning vistas such a road can throw up. The town was situated on a lovely bit of coast that apparentky offered one good surf and the car park looked pretty cosy too. We pulled up and found ourselves a BBQ to cook dinner and cracked open a couple of drinks to accompany our grub. When the temprature started to drop from cool to bitter we jumped in the car to sleep just like old times.
Unlike Wilson the depex car was not quite comfortable and after a cold and fitful night sleep we were both up by 05:30 to find the car park filling up with avid surfers. We stayed for a while to watch the surfers and take a few photos before heading off for our next destination Augusta. Being pretty shattered from lack of sleep we found ourselves a cafe en route in some woods and stopped off for a caffine injection. The cafe was a strange place being so remote yet top notch was hard to understand and the odd art around the yard of the gallery next door added to that feel. When we were feeling a little more human we carried on on our trail and didnt get 40 km down the road before we found ourselves in some strangely impressive woods. We stopped for a ganders but I wont try to explain the place you just had to be there. After taking some snaps we headed on on towards Augusta but on the way we stopped at a place called Hamlin bay, which had it's fame from an age ago as a major timber port for the region. It was a great beach and we stayed for a short while to walk up the rocks, which prooved to be an ordeal as we decided to do it bare foot. We got to Augusta around lunch time and found a bakery and acquired ourselves some pies which we enjoyed on a bench with a view. Pleased by pies we made our way to the pinnacle where three seas met, can't remember which, there was a lighthouse but admission wasn't free so we entertained ourselves ourselves at the calcified wheel down the road. The wheel had been used as a pump but in its neglect the spring water had calcified it into place, there were also tons of rock pools to play in. We headed back to Bussleton where Pete passed out on the beach while I sat and admired the beach and the kilometer jetty. After a while I broke Pete's slumber so he didn't fry and we went up the beach to get some mint choc chip icecream for the walk back to the car. We stopped off at Preston beach and watched the sun sink below the waves on the horizon accompanied by the usual dramatic hues associated with dusk. When the last rays of te Sun were extinguished by the sea we set our sights back to Perth and in no time we were back at Pete's abode.
By this point, after having heard nothing positive on the New Zealand job front, I had decided to try to push back my flight to Auckland in order to accompany Pete on his grand tour of WA. So the next day we headed off into town in order to find an sta and so began a fairly dull, frustrating and long debacle that left me unsure if I wa staying or going the night before my original flight. To cut a long story short my flights were pushed back and I was set to join Pete on the two week road trip around the deepest parts of WA.

Friday 12 October 2012

Day 30-32Goa - Perth 08-10/09/20192

Due to trying to avoid the costs of getting a taxi to the train station 20km away due to the cost I had an early start so as to give myself plenty of time to find my way through the bus system to the small town my train would be leaving from. Despite the traffics' best efforts I managed to make good time, even managing to fit in an omelet from down the road from the station. From my extensive experience on long trains the ten hour trip to Mumbai was a breeze and I soon found myself at jumping off the train into the mayhem that is Bombay. My plan was basic; attempt to either find a place to stay near the airport or sleep on the floor in the airport, my first step however was to find my way to somewhere near the airport. At this point I made a rookie mistake and asked someone where I may find the train there, they said they would help and took me to a taxi and after a bit of dialogue I told them where to go and went back into the train station to enquire further. I qued and managed to get a ticket for about 150 times cheaper than the taxi would have been but I still had to climb the mountain of finding the right train. This took about 45 minutes after asking about fifteen people including railway workers and the police who had no idea what they were talking about, eventually I found a European guy who pointed me in the right direction. The train took me to the nearest station to the airport and on arriving I went on a wander to look for a possible place to stay. This was less productive as I would have hoped as apparently there are next to no cheap hotels in Mumbai so I gave up on the fruitless search and decided to make a beeline to the airport which from my map looked pretty close. After haggling down a rickshaw driver to a price I thought reasonable we set off and as the trip went on the traffic got worse and by the time I arrived at the airport I nearly felt bad for how low a price I had demanded as It proved to be a fair way, nearly. After paying the driver I made for the door so they could tell me I was not allowed into the airport because my flight was not in the next four hours, it was in-fact in 22 hours. Just when I was about to set up camp by the front door for the next day one of the guards on the door told me there was a waiting area for people that had arrived before the four hour allotted airport admittance time so I went in search of it, it was at the end of the terminals and cost about 80 pence which I thought was a steal for a place to stay for a day! The waiting area was a large air-conditioned area at the end of the departures building with a lot of chars some toilets and a café, everything I needed, even a couple of power points so I got plugged in and started wasting away the hours watching breaking bad. At about 2am I started feeling a little tired so I went in search of a corner and settled down to sleep on the floor.

I woke up at about 4 am and I was freezing, I had spent next to no time in air-conditioned areas for the last month so I was not used to the frigid climate. To my delight the person on the reclined chair near by had left so I took my chance to get off the marble floor and claimed the chair taking the storm cover off my backpack to use as a sleeping bag and settled down for a far more cosy second bout of sleep. It was nine when I woke next and I was feeling peckish so after a trip to the toilet I frequented the café for a pricey sandwich and a coffee to accompany the second half of my breaking bad marathon. Over the course of the day I was asked by another guy in the café to watch his stuff while he went out for a smoke and in the early evening we we eventually got chatting which passed the last of my time in the waiting area. When my time came I collected up my effects and walked to the entrance to the airport to swagger in now I was able, I had been saving the last of my rupees for some hot food when I was through security but I was to be kept waiting. Most flights out of Mumbai are in the evening so the airport was heaving so first I had to queue for an hour for immigration and another 30 minutes for the luggage screening when I got through I literally threw my money at the KFC teller. Wasted away the rest of my wait looking through the duty free and reading until it was time to board.

I arrived into Singapore early in the morning and I had never seen an airport like it, it is huge and is set out like a hotel lobby has copulated with a mall. I wearily wandered over to the nearest help desk and asked where I may be getting my connecting flight and they gave me directions including a walk a train and another walk so I shuffled off along the trail. En route I stopped at a free computer to see what was going on in the world and shortly continued. When I reached the other side of the airport a couple of kilometres away I found that the jet-star desk didn’t open for a couple more hours so I went on a wonder and had a nap under a couple of metal chairs. I then headed to the desk to collect my boarding pass, it was at this point I found out that I needed a visa to even visit Australia and I was directed to the other side of customs to the Quantas desk. This didn’t take as long as I had feared and organising the visa was fairly cheap and fast so I once again headed to a jet star desk to collect my boarding pass. After queueing again I collected my boarding pass however when asking about my checked in bag I was told that they didn’t know where it was. I spent the next hour and a half being sent on a goose chase around Singapore airport only to come to the conclusion that I should go and get my flight and see if my bag is there when I get there and if not deal with it when I am in Perth, I was not best please but I had no choice but to do so as I was out of time. The jet star flight was pretty basic with no complementary in-flight food, refreshments or entertainment so I went without as I had no currency with me so the next 5 hours went pretty slowly.

I arrived in Perth after two days without sleep and only 3 meals and with no idea if I would find my bag there. I got through customs without any issues and apprehensively made my way to baggage claim, my fears were for naught as my bag was there waiting for me. I recognised the end of the roughing it in the form of a Pete Mulvaney waiting with a grin on his face in the arrivals hall...

Day 26-29 Colangute 04-07/09/20192

The next thing I knew is was 5:30 in the morning and the sun was up. I disentangled myself from my belongings and made my way back to the enquiry desk and was met with the same response. My frustration must have been apparent from a way off as a man came over to me and asked me where I was headed and when I told him he informed me there had been a train the night before but not to matter there would be another in half and hour. I spent the time before the train arrived chatting to the him about all sorts and we carried on the conversation on the train over coffee. Before I knew it I was at Thivim station where we got the bus towards Mapusa, we got separated when on the bus as it was absolutely crammed due to being the first of the morning and a school service too. I never got to say goodbye but upon arriving in Mapusa the conductor told me my friend had paid for the fair. Its those chance encounters when you are travelling on your own that make the trip worth while when there are so many trying to take advantage of you. From Mapusa it was another short train journey to Calangute and I was there in no time. Trying to find where the girls were staying was a different kettle of fish, I had the address but for some reason unbeknown to me I had neglected to write the name of the hotel down. This lead to me wondering around the same place for quite some time, accidentally trespassing and asking a lot of people a lot of vague questions. Eventually I gave up and went for breakfast, it was at this point I realised I had the name of the place on my browsing history on my laptop. After a fleeting breakfast I set out name in hand and managed to find the hotel in no time. After a short chat with the owner we came to an agreement about rooms and rates and he showed me which room they were in, is should say passed out in. A very groggy and confused Naomi answered the door and she introduced me to the sleeping forms that were Jade and Kerry. After checking in and showering that first day was fairly uneventful; sleeping and TV. That evening we had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel and followed that up with drinks, for my time in Goa it was double whiskeys for 70p a pop. Cards, pool and drinks are the best vice for getting to know people. By the time I made it to bed I was nicely tipsy and I was out like a log as soon as face touched pillow.

The next day we set off to explore the surrounding area mainly up the beach to a place called baga beach. This was a bit more tourist orientated which was made obvious as it was the first place I saw beef on the menu in my time in India. Lunch was enjoyable however completely peaceful as being on a tourist beach there were the normal touts trying to sell their wares, mainly tattoos and bracelets, luckily the focus was on the girls so I was left fairly non beleaguered. The walk back along the beach took a bit longer than the walk out as we were set upon by a tropical deluge so we took refuge with the locals in a bar while the downpour passed us by. We spent the afternoon relaxing by the pool and generally taking it easy. That evening we went on the hunt for some dinner and eventually found ourselves at a upper range restaurant which suited us all. Dinner was quite nice the highlight being my first experience of Goan port which is regular strength and served chilled but was pretty pleasant. When we had finished dinner we went in search of an after dinner drink, a desire sated by a bar by the name of eclipse. This little gem was a lucky find. Upon arriving we ordered our drinks as you do and settled into a game of scrabble, when our drinks were getting towards the dregs the barman, Ranjit, came over and insisted on giving us a free round of drinks. This was the turning point of the evening. We slowly integrated ourselves into what turned out to be a very close knit patronage. After the scrabble was concluded I started chatting to a guy called Raj over a couple of games of pool, his claim to fame being that he is good friends with Dav Patelle from slumdog millionaire. When I returned to the girls they had befriended to two Daves, two middle aged guys one from Scotland and hard to understand and one from Croydon big bald and bawdy. Between Ranjit, Raj and the two Daves we where convinced to join them on their after closing time tradition of going to a club called south pacific. When closing time came around we jumped on the back of a couple of scooters and shot off to the club which turned out to be a couple of minutes down the road all arriving safely in no time. We got into the club and the free drinks continued and after a brief stint in the air-conditioned dance area we retreated to a quieter corner of the club for the rest of the evening. Plenty of laughs were had and the standard drunken mishaps, ranjit tried to kiss jade, all in all it was an awesome impromptu evening. I can scarcely remember the trip back to hotel as we zoomed down Calangute, three on a scooter, whiskey in hand I managed to guide us vaguely home to bed.

The next day was very uneventful as you may expect we were all feeling pretty sorry for ourselves. Barely managing breakfast I spent most of the morning doing absolutely nothing, when it came to mid afternoon we plucked up the courage to head out into the real world in order to find some sustenance in the form of lunch. Feeling less than savoury we found ourselves wandering into a Subway. It seemed like a good idea at the time however sometimes the best ideas go awry, due to lack of toasting, selection and relatively high prices made for a thoroughly disappointing experience, not what was needed. We then set off for the hotel again as we were all still feeling fairly rank. On the way back I managed to book my transport back up to Bombay. The rest of the day was fairly subdued and after a dinner at the hotel it was an early night for all.

After the abysmal amount of exploration the day before we decided we should go on a trip a bit further afield. We decided to get the bus to a place called Panaji Market, Panaji was the next step up in urbanism from Calangute set beside a huge river with even more hustle and bustle. When we arrived at the central bus depot we eventually found our way to the next bus through the throng of people and buses with no English signs. One more short trip and we were dropped off where the attendant promised we wanted to go and you could not mistake the smell of a near by fish market. We quickly found the source of the smell in a small fish market on the brink of the market proper, fish turned into meat which turned into clothes and tat displayed in small stalls on busy market streets. When we reached the other side the close market streets opened up to a large warehouse style building where the centre of the market presided. All along the outside of the building the walls were lined with stalls and when we reached the interior we were greeted with a huge open market set over two floors with the second floor keeping to the walls leaving the central space open. You could find pretty much anything within this building; from any local vegetable to electronics or a new suit. After a lengthy browse we departed the warehouse market to find some lunch in the surrounding town, we found a well populated local restaurant that provided us with a cheap and cheerful lunch. After another short wander we found our way home again with a bit more confidence than the trip out. That evening was spent packing my bag for my departure early the next morning....

Tuesday 11 September 2012

Day 24-25 Kochi-Mangalore-Madgaon 02-03/09/2012

I woke early as I needed to go across the water to find a way to Goa and back before checkout at midday, as I did not know if I would be spending another night in fort Cochin. I wondered down to the jetty and got a ferry to the mainland and once there walked to the train station. Only when I arrived at the station did I discover that Kochi has two stations and I was at the wrong one, this meant getting the train was all but out of the equation. This being the case I set off to find the bus stand, on the way I ran afoul of a bog cum building site and arrived into the bus station clad in mud drawing some strange looks. I didn’t have much luck at the bus station either as there was not a single bus that went to Goa, instead I booked a bus to go half way to a city called Mangalore where I would hopefully find a way to Goa. When that was done I made my way back across the water to check out and get some food. On the way I bumped into the rickshaw driver who had helped me out the night before and he offered to take me around the sights around fort Cochin in return for going to some galleries where he got commission, this struck me as a winning scenario. So we set out after I checked out and over the course of the day I saw various; spice markets, temples, palaces, churches and synagogues not to mention a fair few galleries. When I had seen most of the sites my guide dropped me back where I had been staying and from there I went to the sea front for couple of hours to check out the fish market and relax before heading to get the bus. Being off season the fish market was a shadow of what I could be however there was still a lot on offer from gigantic prawn/lobsters to catfish and a lot in-between that I wouldn’t know the names of. I got some popcorn and watched some street performers for a bit and sat in an internet café until the time came to once more head across the water in order to get my bus.

The bus I was to get was not what I had expected, it certainly wasn’t built for comfort and it was obvious from the get go it was not a direct express route, the next 12 hours were bound to be interesting. It seemed I had drawn the short straw with the seats as the pair I was designated too were not reclined and had less leg room than the rest of the bus due to being crammed in behind a door. The bus was crammed to capacity when we eventually set off for Mangalore, as the bus had no windows it was at least comfortably cool if it wasn’t comfortable. I spent most of the journey staring out of the window. After a couple of hours there was a long stop due to an issue with the bus, then the journey continued. After a few more hours, around midnight, I started to get drowsy however whenever I nodded off I would accidentally head-but this poor old lady next to me so after the second time, where I nearly knocked her out, I decided I had to stay awake. The rest of the journey was a blur of opening and closing windows depending on the weather and attempting without success to sleep in various possessions.

The hours dragged on but we eventually pulled into Mangalore just after dawn, I was sorely tempted to kiss the ground after I bundled off the bus thought better of it after seeing the state of the ground. Fed up of buses I decided if I was getting to Goa it was going to be by train so I sought out a taxi driver and headed over to the central train station. Once I got there I had to wait for the booking office to open so I got some breakfast at the station while I waited. When the office opened I enquired into the situation of the trains, they were still pretty fully booked but eventually I managed to book a train to Goa that would depart that afternoon from a train station on the other side of Mangalore. I promptly got a rickshaw there as I was not up to doing much that day and settled in there to wait. I managed to find a plug so I spent the hours watching TV. The train arrived and I sought out my birth and assumed my usual ritual of locking up my bag and getting set up to read the hours away. Due to the hour of my train I would be arriving into Madgaon at around eleven o’Clock in the evening which I was not looking forward to. When I eventually got to Goa I found that I was still a fair way off from the area I was to rendezvous with Naomi Jade and Kerry so I enquired into how I might get there. The people occupying the enquiry office were of no help, all I got was a few Indian head shakes and confused looks. The taxi office wanted and arm and a leg to get there and I was told there was nowhere cheap to stay near by. So by this point I had decided there was no option but to sleep on the station floor along with the other hundred or so people doing the same. By this point I was so sleep deprived it was as easily said as done....

Day 24-25 Kochi-Mangalore-Madgaon 02-03/09/2012

Day 21-23 Udaipur-Mumbai-Kollam 30/08/2012-01/09/2012

I must say my first experience of long distance train journeys in India was not as bad as I had expected, my uncertainty was based around the fact I was only one class up from the general seating class which is grim. I got on the train at Udaipur and found my birth easily enough and settled in, chaining my bag up and climbing to my bed the top of three. I read for a short time before drifting into a slumber dogged with calls of “chai”,”samosa”,”coffee” and other such chants. I think my previous experience of long journeys put me in good stead for the journeys ahead as I knew exactly how to lye and read for 12 hours at a time. I woke early in the morning with the rest of the trains occupants and set to reading. I took a cup of chai for breakfast and a few hours later had some lunch courtesy of the endless stream of refreshment vendors. The train arrived into Mumbai at one of its northern terminus stations called Bandra after the first fifteen hours at around one o’Clock.

At this point I had two hours to cross the city to the station my next thirty six hours was departing from. This was easier said than done. I quickly found the near by local train station and got a ticket to the station I thought my train was departing from. The local train system is more confusing than the national one, mainly as the trains only list their final destination as well but there are less people who can tell you which train is which. Once on the right train I had my first encounter, with what I now know to be a transvestite beggar, but at the time I just thought them normal,albeit ugly, beggars who clapped loudly and expected money. Once I arrived at the first station my flip flop broke and I was left to waddle a hundred meters with one bare foot to a place I could stop and change my shoes. Once the switch was made I found a police officer to ask where I might find my train. He looked at me in a sympathetic way and told me I would find it across town at the train station I was meant to be at. By this point I was down to 45 minutes so I quickly found a taxi and asked if he knew the station I needed, It turned out he did, and after haggling him down to a reasonable price we set off to what I hoped was the right station. The driver, and his two mates in the back, were nice enough and we talked a bit on the way, “no I’m not married”, “yes I’m only 23” and “yes I’m monogamous” seems to get me through most taxi journeys. I got to the station and managed to find my train with minutes to spare.

This leg of my journey to Kollam was much the same as the trip to Mumbai but longer, two nights an afternoon and a morning. I was on the middle bunk this time however my seat was booked among a group of people and one of them was in a different birth and wanted to swap so he could sit with his friends so I obliged. The top bunk is preferable as you have the option of lying down or sitting as your bunk is always down but when the rest are up you also have a seat below. I spent the 36 hours either; sleeping, reading or eating with the odd doodling in my moleskin. The food on the long distance trains varies in quality however the price is always phenomenal and I didn’t once get a upset stomach from it. Once you have experienced a few trips on the sleeper trains they are the only way to travel around if you have the time, if you were among others it would be even better. Including the food and transfer in Mumbai it cost me the equivalent of under £15 and that’s three nights of accommodation and just under 2,500km, I would recommend it to anyone.

I arrived in Kollam at seven in the morning groggy and filthy. Once out of the station I had decided to go to the tourist office for the area to get some idea of what to do. I finally managed to get a rickshaw driver who knew the place which was only down the road and after getting there it only took a couple of minutes to book myself onto a backwaters tour that I had come for. I had twenty minutes to get some breakfast in before the tour started, which I just managed, and after only being in Kollam for two hours I was heading out on a tour of its backwaters. The tour would take place around one of the islands on the huge lake Kollam boarders, to get there was a 25km taxi ride. We were only in the taxi for five minutes before I witnessed two cars touch for the first time, a bus pulled out in front of our car and in doing so scraped the front left flank of the car. Our driver pursued the offending bus and eventually stopped it in the middle of the road to confront the driver who seemed to be having none of it. This chase continued a couple of blocks before we ended up and a police station of virtue and corruption where the matter seemed to be settled. We were soon on our way again into the countryside. The drive would have been pleasant if not for our drivers addiction to the sound of his own horn, I kid you no for 25km he would use his horn at least 3 blasts normally together every nine seconds. I counted. To get to the islands we got a small ferry over a 100m stretch of water which was built out of two boats lashed together but worked pretty well. Another short drive on the other side saw us to a small village where our guide was waiting with his hefty canoe. The five of us got into the canoe; a Spanish couple, an Estonian woman, an Indian couple and I. Our guide punted the canoe around the backwaters deftly, as he knew them like the back of his hand, and pointed things out along the way such as; fish farms, pepper plants, cashew trees, nutmeg trees, bananas, chillies, snakes, coconuts and a plethora of other little interesting things. The couple of hours we spent on the boat were a peaceful contrast to the trip that took us to them, we even stopped for tea in a little village where next door they were making rope out of coconut fibres. The trip back to Kollam was much the same as the trip out, I took the opportunity to ask the others on the tour if there was much else to do in Kollam. After finding out there wasn’t much else to do I decided to try and get another train back up the coast as I was planning to be back up in Goa in a couple of days.

My next stop was a city called Kochi which apparently is renowned for its fishing and has deep running Portuguese and Dutch influences of its older suburbs. The train I took there was grim, sleeper class turned into second class and for 3 hours I was a sardine, the only reprieves were when I managed to wrestle my way to hang out of the door of the train between stations. The relief of alighting the train was close to the feeling of relieving yourself after having needed for a wee for a similar amount of time. Before heading to the fort Cochin area over the water, which I had decided would be the ideal place to stay, I attempted to book my train out of Kochi to avoid a repeat journey of the one I had just been on. I was out of luck it seemed as all the trains out of Kochi towards Goa were booked for the days ahead, this was a problem to deal with another day so I took a rickshaw to the jetty. By the time I boarded the ferry to fort Cochin the sun was setting, over a far more industrial dockland than I had expected from my briefing by the lonely planet, though if there is a time to look at a dock you cant do much better than dusk. I arrived in fort Cochin after dark and began to wonder in the vague direction of the town centre, I hadn’t got far when a rickshaw driver offered to take me somewhere in my price range and tired as I was I took the easy way out....

Day 19-20 Udaipur 28-29/08/20112

My last morning in Jaipur was a relaxed affair as my train was mid afternoon so I had a leisurely breakfast and checked out in my own time. Being situated close to the train station I went for a wonder and found it on foot. After my few days of staying in one place and sightseeing I had almost forgotten the joys of the Indian railway station. After walking around questioning various innocent bystanders I eventually found the platform my train would be arriving on, what I didn’t anticipate was that it was connected to a second train with a different name. Stations in India like to keep you on your toes like that, I found my train just in time and settled into my seat. Laptop out, Breaking Bad on, set for the next 7 hours. I was a bit disappointed as the train I had booked had seemed to be similar to my first train, express air conditioned chair train, however it was not quite as fancy and lacked all the lashings of food so I was looking to go hungry. However the couple next to me had brought their dinner with them and asked me to join them so not to be rude, and enticed by the amazing smells the food was giving off, I deigned to oblige. The highlight of the rest of the trip was a 2 hour delay which saw me getting into Udaipur much later than I had expected. Not having anything planned this wouldn’t be such an issue if not for the fact that the delay made the difference of finding a place for as cheap as I would hope. However I bumped into an American girl on the way out of the station and we shared a rickshaw into the main town area and in the end I found somewhere to stay, albeit for more than I would have hoped as I expected.

The next morning I woke well before check out to go out looking for some accommodation near by that was more affordable. On my wondering I ended up getting chatting to a local artist who invited me into his gallery, hoping I would buy something, but he showed me how a lot of the art was done all the same. I found a place that suited my needs, had breakfast there and then set about moving my affects over. Once that was done I went for a wonder around the town proper which is filled with shrines and boasts a huge Hindu temple in the middle along with a couple other smaller one scattered through the town. Pretty much all were in the style of the old Raman temples, a huge stone monolith covered with intricate carvings of people and animals with a couple including an interior with a shrine or space for ceremonies. In the largest of the temples as well as a few of the smaller ones there were ceremonies taking place which were interesting to observe despite having no idea what was taking place. After having a look around the temples I carried on up the hill to the main sight of the town that takes the form of a huge palace. The palace was pretty impressive; it was built and expanded over around 300 years and its building was influenced, as you would expect, by the differing styles of the rulers that rose and fell over the encompassing time. I spent a couple of hours wondering around the palace's innards which after a while started looking much the same from room to room. The highlights would be the third story garden that boast a pool and trees and just the sheer size of the building. The palace was impressive but with its size and my attention span for Indian history it was never going to be one of my more thrilling days. After leaving the palace I spent the rest of the afternoon wondering around the streets of the town looking into shops and just taking in the dynamics of Udaipur. I spent the evening relaxing and taking advantage of the hotels internet to Skype and upload my blogs so far.

On my second day in Udaipur I spent the day getting organised. My first job was to obtain a charger for my camera as by this point my disposable camera had run out of film and my phone had broken so I was in need of a pictorial device. After enquiring at a couple of stores I came across a man who had a brother who owned a shop that sold cameras 'not far down the road'. So I follow him out the shop and start walking ahead down the road getting a short way before he pulls up next to me on a 500cc motor bike and insists we must ride there, I considered briefly and thought why not. His brothers shop was a 10 minute ride away but I found what I needed there and managed to get it for a fairly decent price, once our business was done my friend with the bike drove me back to town. I thanked him and set off to find some breakfast. I took my breakfast at a small restaurant by the river than runs through Udaipur between the two lakes that the town straddles. I took the chance to charge my camera's battery with my new gizmo and prayed that it wasn’t knackered. I managed to get it to work after some technical 'lens pulling' and 'camera tapping'. After breakfast I spent the afternoon looking around the various shops and stalls in the town to get a present for my fathers birthday. This took a fair time which I broke up with stops at some tea shops which also coincided with the flash deluges. I came out of the afternoon with a couple of choice items and set to finding somewhere to base myself to have my dinner and while away the hours before my late night train. I found a likely place and when the time came I collected my affects and made my way to the train station to get the first train of my three day voyage...